


Just A Little Favor

by LanaDelJones



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, omg they were next door neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:14:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22124671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LanaDelJones/pseuds/LanaDelJones
Summary: Bughead Secret Santa gift for the lovely Mieteve-MinijomaWhen Betty is left in a pickle and in need of a fake boyfriend, she asks her next-door neighbor Jughead for a little favor.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 16
Kudos: 71
Collections: 7th Bughead Fanfiction Awards - Nominees, Bughead Secret Santa, Home for the HoliDale





	Just A Little Favor

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas!

Betty sits down with a loud huff, her breath turning white as it mingles with the crisp night sky. She rests her elbows on her knees and gets lost in her thoughts as her eyes follow the small snow flurries as they tumble and fall gracefully onto the sidewalk in front of her. A small gust of wind blows her hair into her face, Betty reaches to tuck her hair behind her ear. A few strands are stuck on her still damp cheeks, a bitter reminder of the events of the night, and the reason why she is sitting outside on a cold December night. 

She wraps her hands around her steaming mug of coffee, hoping to transfer some heat to her cold digits. She didn’t want to go back inside her warm apartment just yet, she needed the crisp air surrounding her to help her focus on her game plan. Her phone buzzes noisily besides her, vibrating dangerously close to the edge of the stair. She glances down towards it and sees the name illuminated on the screen, bringing angry tears to well in her eyes. 

_ Prick. What could he possibly want now?  _

She moves her hand down and picked up the phone. She watches the screen flash as she debated if she wanted to answer the call or not. She knows that if she answers the call there will be nothing he could say to make things right. Surprising him at his apartment earlier tonight and finding him in a compromising position, sealed the deal and Betty ended it on the spot. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t in love with him, she was just going through the motions. But she would be lying if she said that finding him like that didn’t hurt her feelings.

She pushes the deny button on her phone, sending him straight to voicemail, and puts her phone inside the pocket of her oversized hoodie. She needed to focus, because in less than 24 hours she will be hosting a very important Christmas dinner for her work. And not just some run of the mill boozy holiday work parties, this particular soiree will be the last chance Betty will have to impress her boss and secure the editor position that has been up for grabs for the last couple of weeks. 

Betty brings her mug up to her lips and takes a sip, smiling sweetly at the couple walking down the sidewalk. Her turns her head to follow them as they pass by her, her eyes transfixed on their clasped hands. Seeing them reminds her of the pressing matter in front of her. Before leaving work she had confirmed the guest list to her boss, which had included her now ex boyfriend, and if there is one thing that Betty has learned, is that her boss won’t accept a no-show on her guest list. 

Taking another sip of her coffee, Betty contemplates excuses she could possibly use to explain away why her boyfriend wouldn’t be at dinner. With each excuse she could hear the nasally short response her boss would make. Biting her lower lip in concentration as she racked her brain for the perfect excuse why she will be hosting solo, something large and fluffy rubs against her leg. Raising her mug above her she looks down and smiles at her cat, Caramel, as she weaves in between her feet. 

“What are we going to do, Caramel?” 

She rests her hand holding the mug on her knee and brings her other hand down to rub one of her velvety ears. The cat looks up towards Betty and answers her question with a loud meow, headbutting her hand before continuing rubbing her side against her calf.

“You know, it’s never a good sign when you see your neighbor having a conversation with her cat in the middle of the night”

The unexpected male voice startled Betty, making her jump slightly and whipping her head in the direction the voice came from. Her nerves settled when she saw the familiar face of her next door neighbor, Jughead, leaning against the wrought iron fence that runs between their property. She rolls her eyes at the smug smile on his face.

“I don’t think you need to worry just yet” she looks back down at Caramel, running her hand through the soft warm fur. “It’s when I start arguing with her, that you should grow worried” she looks back up at him, a playful smile on her face.

“I’ll keep that in mind” 

He smiles warmly at her as he pushes himself off the fence, the sound of glass clinking echoed between them. Betty furrows her eyebrows, curious what Jughead was holding behind his back, after waiting a beat for him to explain the noise, she tilts her head to the side. With a sheepish grin on his face, Jughead moves his hand from behind his back, revealing a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. 

“I thought maybe a drink was in order” he raises his arm, “and maybe a conversation with another human” 

“My hero”

Betty chuckles as she moves over to give Jughead some room to sit beside her. She watches him saunter up the stairs, noticing how a few snowflakes had stuck to his midnight black hair. Her eyes traveled down and couldn’t help but admire how nicely his shirt and leather jacket fit around him. Betty turned to set her now empty mug down in a vain attempt to stop her train of thought, and to allow the flush along her cheeks to lessen. 

Jughead sits down beside her and sets the two glasses down between them. “So spill, Cooper” he states flatly as he takes off the cap of the whiskey.

“But where to begin, Jones” 

“The start is a good place” he begins to pour the amber liquid in each glass, tapping a glass with his finger to tell Betty to pick one up. 

“Fair warning, it’s a doozy” she sighs as she picks up the cold glass, rotating her wrist to swish the liquid around in the glass before taking a sip.

“I’ll be the judge of that”

“Okay. Do you remember the promotion at my work?” Betty takes a sip, the warmth from the whiskey a welcoming burn in the cold.

“They still haven’t made a decision on that damn thing?”

“No, but it will be announced come Monday. But tomorrow I'm hosting a very important Christmas party, and it’s my last chance to impress my boss”

“Betts, you impress your boss everyday at work. You are a brilliant writer, your boss will be a complete fool not to give you this promotion”

“Well I have one huge problem with tomorrow, I already confirmed the guest-list with my boss, which included Archie”

Jughead scoffs loudly into his glass mid sip. Betty looks over at him with one eyebrow raised, she’s greeted with wide blue eyes. 

“Sorry, went down the wrong pipe. So why is this a problem?”

“It’s a problem because shortly after I confirmed, I went to his place and I found him in a compromising position. And I ended it on the spot”

“Wait, are you telling me that you caught him cheating on you?” anger lingered around the tone of his voice.

“Yes. But-”

“No, Betts. No buts, I can’t believe the nerve of that guy!” the grip on his glass grows tighter. “I’m so sorry he did that to you” he turns to face her, his eyes scanning her face.

“It’s okay. Really.” she smiles softly to assure him. 

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I need someone to play the part of my boyfriend tomorrow night”

“Why? Can’t you just make up some excuse? Say he got sick or something”

Betty raises her head to the sky and sighs as she shakes her head no to Jughead’s question. “I can’t, because that would just be too easy” she chuckles darkly at her bad luck.

“I don’t understand”

“My boss is a very peculiar lady, she doesn’t accept no-shows unless you were unconscious in a hospital bed. So for me to have my very own boyfriend be a no-show at my own party would take me out of the running for the promotion”

“Well, shit” 

“Shit, indeed”

The two sit in silence for a moment, the only sound coming from the music inside Betty’s house and the constant purrs of Caramel as she weaves in and out between their legs. Betty sets her now empty glass on the concrete between them, her finger tracing the glass’s edge as she thinks of a possible solution. Jughead turns to face her as he picks up the bottle and twists the cap off, reaching and picking up her glass in one swift motion, leaving her hand stagnant between them. 

“Why don’t you ask Kevin for help?” he pours a generous amount of whiskey into her glass, “you know he would absolutely love doing it” he finishes his pour and hands it to her.

“He would be perfect for the job” Betty smiles as she takes her glass from Jughead, “but he is out of town for the weekend” she takes a sip

Jughead hums at her answer as he pours himself another drink, every so often he looks up to look at Betty’s face to make sure she is in fact as okay as she is claiming to be. He finishes capping the bottle and sets it off to the side. He brings the glass to his lips to take a sip as he runs his other hand down Caramel’s back. 

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t really know. Veronica has some guy friends I can ask, but I know it’s going to be a hard sell”

“I’m really sorry your going through all this Betts, I wish I could help in some way” he smiles sweetly at her before taking another sip. 

“Well… now that you mention it…” Betty turns to face him with wide green eyes, her voice dripping like syrup.

“What are your plans tomorrow night?” she blinks up at him

Jughead stares into her eyes for a moment before her question finally sank in and he realized just what exactly she was asking him.

“Oh no, Bettys” he shakes his head, “no, I should be more like your last ditch effort or something”

“Don’t be silly! You would be perfect!” she could feel the heat starting to return across her cheeks.

“I just don’t know, I don’t want to embarrass you or anything” 

“Jughead Jones” Betty said firmly as he places her empty hand on top of his shoulder, distracted for a moment from how soft his leather jacket was and how warm he was to her touch. 

“You could never embarrass me” she said sincerely, “you would be doing me the biggest favor, I’d forever be indebted to you” she gives him a crooked smile. The smile she received eased her nerves, the last thing she wanted was to make Jughead feel uncomfortable, now she just needed to think of something to seal the deal.

“And besides, have I told you everything im cooking for tomorrow?” she raises her eyebrow mischievously, knowing the quickest way to get her way with Jughead was with food. She watched his blue eyes grow wide with the possibility of tomorrow’s dinner menu, bringing a laugh to tumble out of her. 

“I’m in” 

“Gosh, your so easy!” Betty laughed as she shoved Jughead’s shoulders a bit back before bringing her hand back down to her side.

“Or, I’m just always hungry” Jughead gently shoves her shoulder with his, laughing along with her.

They both look out to the street, a smile on both of their faces. The snow flurries are starting to fall harder as the night grows late, the wind picks up and sends a shiver down both of their spines. Once they were both done with their drinks, Betty hands Jughead her empty glass and begins to stand.

Betty brings her hands up above her head in a long stretch, a sliver of skin showing as her hoodie rises up. Betty could feel eyes on her in a heated stare, she snaps her head over to Jughead and smiles at the surprised look on his face at being caught. She lowers her hands back down to her sides, not daring to mention a word of the exchange between them. 

She watched with keen eyes as Jughead stands, her eyes traveling down his form as he reaches down to pick up the bottle and glasses. She was quick to divert her gaze elsewhere before he turned back to face her. 

“So it’s settled?” she asks him while looking out at the apartments across the street, “Can you be over at around 5? Dinner is at 6” she turns to face him, smiling slightly to encourage him to not back out of this.

“Sounds good Betts” he shoots Betty a small smile as he walks past her down the stairs.   
Betty watches him descend down the stairs, eternally grateful Jughead had agreed to this. She decides on the spot that she will add baking some cookies to her to-do list for tomorrow, as a quasi thank you gift for Jughead. She laughs lightly as she watches Jughead lose his footing slightly on an icy step, the comical glare Jughead shoots her way from his stoop makes Betty laugh even harder. 

“Goodnight, Jughead” Betty sing-songs over to Jughead. Caramel meows her goodbye to him before running inside the apartment and over to the blanket on the couch.

“Goodnight, Betty. Goodnight Caramel” Jughead laughs, shaking his head as he pushes his door open.

**Author's Note:**

> xoxo, M


End file.
